Darvish again flirted with a no-hitter against Houston. He again held an opponent scoreless and hitless with runners in scoring position. And for the second time this season in as many starts, he walked off the mound without a drop of offense from his team.

It wasn’t until long after he was gone that the severely limited Rangers were able to force the winning run across on a two-out single by catcher Robinson Chirinos to lift them to a history-making 1-0, 12-inning win over Houston at Globe Life Ballpark. Chirinos delivered the hit two innings after he struck out with the bases loaded for the second out of the 10th inning. It ended the longest scoreless game in the 20-year-history of the Ballpark.

“That’s why this is the best game,” Chirinos said. “You have one opportunity, and it doesn’t work out and you have to turn the page and be ready for the next one. I am just so happy that I was able to come through for the team when it needed it most.

“The whole pitching staff just did a great job,” Chirinos added. “We had to keep pushing and pushing and pushing until we got it done.”

It was the Rangers’ third consecutive home walkoff win this season and their 12th consecutive victory against the Astros. The Rangers can tie the franchise record for consecutive wins against an opponent with a win Saturday. They had 13-game streaks against Cleveland and Oakland in the 1970s and against Minnesota.

The pitching staff’s effort began with Darvish, who retired the first 15 batters and allowed just one hit through eight innings. Over the next four innings, Joakim Soria, Alexi Ogando, Neal Cotts and Jason Frasor, allowed a pair of walks and a single. No AL team had gone at least 12 innings with two or fewer hits allowed since the New York Yankees beat Los Angeles 2-1 in 1962.

The Rangers suffer from performance anxiety when Darvish takes the mound. Darvish has allowed one or fewer runs 12 times in his last 25 starts and he’s failed to get a win for seven of those outings.

Darvish was perfect through the first five innings before allowing a two-strike single to his Houston nemesis Matt Dominguez to start the sixth. Dominguez entered the game as one of three major leaguers to have as many as three homers against Darvish. Mike Trout (four) and Brandon Moss (three) are the others.

The offense, limited by another day without Adrian Beltre, managed only two hits against former Rangers pitcher Scott Feldman in seven innings. Feldman was pitching under difficult circumstances. His father, Marshall Feldman, passed away earlier in the week and Feldman flew in from California for the game and was to fly back out on Saturday.